Women's Volleyball

Dons Down Gauchos 3-1 At USF Powerade/Asics Classic

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -
The University of San Francisco women's volleyball team defeated UC Santa Barbara, 28-30, 30-23, 26-30, 26-30, Sunday afternoon capturing the 2006 USF Powerade/Asics Classic title. Gaucho seniors Olivia Waldowski and Emily Hendrickson were each honored with All-Tournament accolades for their play this weekend.

With the loss, the Gaucho season record falls to 2-2 while the Dons now stand at 4-1 on the young season. With this being the first-ever game between the two programs, UCSB falls to 0-1 on the series with the Dons.

Gauchos Brett Quirarte, Lauren McLaughlin and Rebecca Saraceno led UCSB in the loss, each tallying 15 kills apiece. Quirarte also led the team with a .417 hitting percentage and five blocks. Freshman Saraceno, who currently leads the Gauchos in kills this season with 60 total, posted a team-high 40 kills on the weekend.

Also posting double-digit kills was Waldowski with 11 accompanied by four blocks. Setter Kayce Matthess tallied 56 assists against the Dons, shattering her previous career-best mark of 32 that she set during Saturday's game versus San Jose State.

Hendrickson posted 20 digs in the match while Matthess and Jamie Garbisch helped out with 12 and 11 scoops, respectively.

Kristin Hasselberg's 22 kills led the Dons' offense, while Darcy Carroll posted 31 assists and Haley Carroll had 24 digs. Carly Babin had a match-leading 11 blocks in the win.

The Gauchos got an early lead in game one and held onto it, finding themselves ahead of the Dons by six points on three occasions. USF slowly fought back until they were able to tie the game at 27-27 on a UCSB error. The teams exchanged a pair of kills before USF blocked back-to-back Gaucho attacks to grab the 30-28 win.

Game two started out tight with both teams exchanging several points before UCSB was able to make a five-point run to gain an 18-13 lead. The Gauchos held the lead for the remainder of the game winning 30-23.

The third game started out much like the second with several points being exchanged by each team, but this time around San Francisco grabbed the advantage after two straight kills by Hasselberg followed by a service ace to bring the Dons' lead to 12-8. From that point forward San Francisco held the lead coming away with a 30-26 win.

In the final game each team kept within a couple points of one another and with the score tied at 24-24, San Francisco tallied a four-point run which the Gauchos were unable to recover from. Tournament MVP Hasselberg had the final kill as the Dons took the last game, 30-26.

UC Santa Barbara will hit the court again next Friday, Sept. 8 at the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev. The Gauchos' first game is scheduled against host UNLV at 7 p.m.